Vikings go 2-0 after manhandling NT, 35-21

Grand Island's Joe Gioeli wraps up a North Tonawanda ballcarrier during the Vikings' 35-21 win Saturday at Masters Field. (photo by Larry Austin)

by
Larry Austin

After
having an admittedly bad week on practice field Monday through
Friday, the Grand Island Vikings had a good afternoon Saturday in
beating North Tonawanda 35-21 at Masters Field.

The
win improved the Vikings to 2-0 on the Section VI Federation football
season.

"We
had a bad week, we really did, but that happens sometimes," said GI
coach Dean Santorio. "Kids are at school all day behind a desk and
they had to come out to practice when it's hot, then we had that
real bad rain day. You just hope you get prepared and understand what
people are trying to do against you and hopefully mentally be ready."

GI
shook off any practice rust and marched down the field on its first
possession, thanks to 59 yards on four carries by running back Danny
Blocho. He punched the ball in from two yards out, and with a
two-point pass from Quinn Corrao to Chris Connors on a fake extra
point, GI took an 8-0 lead that they would never relinquish.

"Our
running game's been great, and we're really proud of that and
we're proud of our offensive line up front and what they've
done." Santorio said.

Quinn
Corrao "had a great day today, too," he added.

The
secret of the success in the running attack through two games this
season is "toughness on the line, toughness in the backfield and
getting upfield," said fullback Anthony Zogaria, who had two TD on
the day.

After
a 3-yard touchdown by NT's Jon Zellner narrowed the lead to 8-6, GI
had TDs from Mitch Fachko (a 6-yard run) and Zogaria (a 10-yard pass
from Corrao).

Though
the team had a slow start a week earlier against Kenmore East, the
offense was clicking on all cylinders from the opening kickoff
against the Lumberjacks.

"Today
we knew right from the beginning what we had to do and we executed,"
Zogaria said.

"Really,
we can play with any team around if we do what we're supposed to
do, if we do what the coaches tell us to do," he said.

Josh
Brosius of NT cut the lead again on a 50-yard run, but Corrao
connected with Connors on a 29-yard scoring pass to regain the
Vikings' momentum. Zogaria added a 3-yard TD run to push the lead
to 35-14 before the game was halted for half an hour because of
lightning. NT added a late TD on a 16-yard pass from Chris Woodard to
Brosius.

GI
hosts Starpoint at 2 p.m. in the annual Homecoming game.

"They're
always physical, they always play us tough," Santorio said of the
Spartans. "They're always tough defensively because they play
hard, so they'll be prepared to play. They've got a real good
running back and their JV was real successful last year. We know
they'll be ready to play."

"There's
always worries," Santorio said of the Homecoming game. "I mean,
it drives us crazy as coaches. We want the kids to have fun during
Spirit Week and all that, but there's still a game to play."